At Western Hills University High School in West Price Hill, Jamar Hurse shoots – not a gun, a basketball.

The 15-year-old freshman is tired of seeing his school devastated by gun violence. In six years, more than a dozen kids in the Western Hills University High School or “West High” community died in shootings.

But Hurse and many of his classmates don’t accept this as the norm. These teenagers take matters into their own hands.

Earlier this month, he and a group of other students hosted a basketball tournament they called “Put the guns down, pick the ball up.” The three-on-three tournament was one way West High students are trying to change the rate of juvenile shootings in Cincinnati.

Two kids’ funerals in one day

Last year, a record number of teens were shot in Cincinnati.

Where West High is located is one of the most impacted areas. Price Hill is one of the top 10 crime neighborhoods in the city, said Deon Hunter, a community outreach advocate for the Urban League.

A bulletin board in the West High gymnasium illustrates how gun violence impacts the school. On it, students wrote the names of friends they lost to shootings. “ChaCha Cotton,” “Cam Franklin” and “Desire Coston,” are just a few of the victims named.

West High has lost 15 current or previously enrolled students to gun violence since 2018, said Anna Colyer, intervention specialist at West High, and Victoria Oakley, a social worker at the school.

“They were kids that we knew,” Colyer said.

Oakley said she has gone to seven funerals for kids in the past two years or so. One day, she went to two funerals back-to-back.

“The worst part is,” Colyer said, “seeing the kids so upset.”

One shooting in particular hit the kids hard.

‘We’re done with it’

Oct. 25, 2023, was supposed to be a memorable day.

About 15 students were chosen to attend that day’s Anthony Munoz Foundation’s Youth Leadership Seminar. The event gave teens the opportunity to meet with local leaders and develop a clear sense of purpose, define their goals and envision a bright future.

But the day became memorable for a different reason.

The 15 kids heard that one of their West High peers was shot.

“He recovered,” Oakley said, “but it was pretty heavy on everybody’s minds.”

The students at the leadership seminar decided they were fed up with gun violence affecting their school family.

“That’s when the kids were [like] ‘We need to stop that,” Colyer said. “We’re done with it.'”

Kids who attend the leadership seminar are tasked to create a service project. For the 15 West High students, it was obvious what they would choose to focus on.

How teens work to stop youth gun violence

The kids took the initiative, developing a plan over seven months. They decided they would put on a basketball tournament fundraiser and worked together to execute it. One student, 17-year-old Nency Patel, even met with the school’s principal by herself to advocate for the event.

The goal was simple: to give their peers a good time.

“I just want to see everybody smile,” Hurse said, “because there are some people here who haven’t had a good time in months or years.”

Advocates working against youth violence have been clear in the past that giving kids a place to go and opportunities for fun and connection is essential for deterring youth violence.

There were also more explicit ways the event addressed gun violence. All proceeds from the event went to Save Our Youth: Kings and Queens, an anti-violence organization led by Mitch Morris.

The kids made a video about the impact of gun violence on their school community, which played at the event. You also could write a Mother’s Day card to a mom who has lost a child in a shooting.

“I hope this event has an impact on the world,” Hurse said with his infectious smile.

It at least left an impact on the roughly 40 teenagers running around, dribbling and making baskets in the West High gym that Saturday.

The kids were just being kids.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Western Hills high schoolers host basketball event for gun violence